Abstract
For researchers who are interested in the relationship between theology and the natural sciences, 2009 is of special importance. It is now 500 years since Calvin was born and 450 years since his Institution of the Christian Religion was finally published. It is also 200 years since Darwin’s birth and 150 years since his On the Origin of Species appeared in print for the first time. Calvin and Darwin are representative of two separate lines which converge in a particular ‘transversal space’. Such insights are regenerating light on our search for scientific truth today. Neither the absolutisation of transcendent revelation, nor that of immanent knowledge of nature, provides an accountable understanding of reality. Against this background, the challenge for Systematic Theology today is to conceive of a ‘theology of nature’, which can be offered as a dialectical third option. An ‘ecohermeneutics’ offers a possibility of establishing such an option for theology. However, such an option will, on the one hand, have to deconstruct the reformed criticism of a natural theology and will, on the other hand, have to make serious work of an evolutionary epistemology.
Highlights
In this festival year of both the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth 200 years ago, as well as of the publication of his magnum opus, On the Origin of Species, 150 years ago, I wish to pursue the following intimation that he makes in the concluding chapter of the book regarding the meaning of his theory for Protestant theology: In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researchers
I wish to propose, in this essay, that Protestant theology ought to shake off the anathema expressed in certain circles towards the concept of natural theology
Brunner regards natural theology as the receptivity of humankind to God’s word, because a ‘remnant’ of the imago Dei was preserved in human beings
Summary
In this festival year of both the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth 200 years ago, as well as of the publication of his magnum opus, On the Origin of Species, 150 years ago, I wish to pursue the following intimation that he makes in the concluding chapter of the book regarding the meaning of his theory for Protestant theology: In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researchers. Brunner regards natural theology as the receptivity of humankind to God’s word, because a ‘remnant’ of the imago Dei was preserved in human beings Such Wortfähigkeit does not exist to prove God, but to proclaim the gospels (the ‘what?’ question) in love (the ‘how?’ question). McGrath (2008:141) alludes to such a means of obtaining knowledge about God in the title of one of his most recent books, which is titled The open secret, in which he states: ‘There is no ‘secret’ or ‘hidden’ meaning of nature, in that the human mind is capable of uncovering its true, public meaning.’ Such a statement makes clear that the cognitive approach to reality is one which regards nature as fully knowable and, understandable. HTS 513 (page number not for citation purposes) inextricably bound up with our physicality, it is tied to the Godcreated cosmos, being the summation of our life experiences and relationships (Green 2008:179).
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